1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to an accelerated testing method of evaluating the lifespan of a fuel cell, and more particularly, to a rapid testing method of evaluating the lifespan of a fuel cell including a catalyst, a membrane and a MEA (Membrane & Electrode Assembly).
2. Description of the Related Art
A first method of determining long-term stability of an anode and methanol crossover for 2,000 hours of operation is described as a method for evaluating the lifespan of a fuel cell in J. of Electrochim. Acta, 47, 3741 (2002). According to the first method, a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) single cell is operated using 1M methanol/air at 0.4 V and 100° C. to measure power density and fuel utilization with respect to operating time.
A second method of evaluating the lifespan of a fuel cell, a method of measuring the lifespan of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) single cell for 4,000 hours of operation to investigate the catalyst microstructure in the fuel cell is described in J. of Electrochem. Soc., 151, A48 (2004). According to the second method, the PEMFC single cell is operated using H2/air at a current density of about 400 mA/cm2, 60° C. and a relative humidity of about 100% for about 4,000 hours to evaluate the performance of the single cell with respect to operation time.
According to the first and second methods described above, a long time is required to evaluate the lifespan of a fuel cell, which increases evaluation costs. Thus, there is a need for an accelerated testing method to rapidly evaluate the lifespan of a fuel cell.